Mask of Madness & Mask of Sanity
by buslimpan
Summary: I was lost in my madness. I was once saved by Layton from my madness, but it has now overhelmed me. I wasn't even trying to be sane. So subconsciously, I sent a plea to the man who saved me before. Or rather, my sanity did. And once again, the man saved me. One-shot.


**Mask of Madness & Mask of Sanity**

The plan was set in motion for real when I sent Layton my letter. I knew that it would take a while for Layton to get here, so I practiced a bit more to be able to be Future Luke. To be honest, I was a bit nervous. I didn't want to be found out the moment I met up with Layton. I needed to play my part perfectly or everything I had worked for would be in ruins.

I stood in front of my mirror as I practiced my movements. I already wore my "Future Luke" outfit and, I hate to admit it, I think it looks good on me. I pushed up my dark blue cap a bit and smirked. It would be so fun to trick the famous Professor Hershel Layton. A knock on my door got me out of my little dreamworld.

"Come in" I said as I turned away from the mirror. Dimitri walked in, but stopped to look at me. I smirked at his expression.

"I'm just living in to my role" I said with a wave of my hand. Dimitri gave a slow nob.

"That's good. Because Layton is here" Dimitri said and my mind got blank for a while.

"What? _Already_?!" I asked after a moment. Dimitri nodded.

"They have been given the second letter. You better hurry to the meeting place" Dimitri said before he walked away. I sighed and resisted the urge to run my hand through my hair. I didn't mess my hair up, not now. Not when they were so close. I threw a last glance in the mirror before I hurried away to the casino where I would meet Layton. As I hurried away, a disturbing thought came up in my mind.

'Did... Did my reflection look sad?'

…

I had met up with Layton and Luke. And I succeeded to trick them. So far, so good. After I had told them why I had called them here, we escaped from the casino. From there we went to the hotel room that Layton had gotten for him and Luke to stay during their time here. It was late and Layton wanted to reflect on what happened. I can't blame him really. After all, he believes that he is in the future and that there is an evil Layton who wants to create a time machine. It is a lot to take in. So I guess that I can give him a rest. And if I stress him too much he will get suspicious.

I was in the bathroom and was checking the area on my neck where I got hit earlier in the casino. I grimaced as it hurt when I touched the spot.

"That is definitely going to leave a bruise tomorrow" I muttered with a tired sigh. I stared into my reflection, and thought on what happened today.

'Did I a good job as posing as Luke? I must have, they both seemed to believe me...'

A knock on the bathroom door and the sound of the door opening brought me back to reality. I still looked into the mirror, but instead on my reflection I looked on as Layton walked into the bathroom with something in his hands.

"Are you alright Luke?" Layton asked me with concern in his voice. Was he showing sympathy? I almost smiled coldly at that.

"Yeah. It doesn't hurt much. You don't have to worry about it Professor" I said as I turned around and smiled a bit to Layton. I almost flinched when I got a good look on Layton's worried expression.

"You got hit in the neck Luke. It's quite a sensitive area. At the very least, you will get a bruise there" Layton said as he walked to me.

"Yeah, probably. As I said, it doesn't hurt as long as you don't touch it" I said, getting a bit uncomfortable that Layton seemed worried about me.

"If you say so Luke... But here, take this ice package. It should at least make the bruise smaller" Layton said as he gave me what he held. I took the ice package and I felt the coldness from it.

"Thanks Professor" I said with a small, and true, smile as I put the ice package where I got hit. I knew that my neck would get numb for a while because of this, but it lessened the pain.

"Alright then. Goodnight Luke" Layton said as he tipped his hat a bit before he walked out of the bathroom, probably to go to bed.

"Goodnight Professor" I said as Layton walked away. I sighed and leaned on the sink, still holding the ice package against my neck.

'He was nice to me... Well, not surprising really. He is a gentleman... He helps everyone who is in need... It doesn't matter. As long as my plan works, he can be nice to everyone he wants to be'

Suddenly I felt that someone was starring at me. I looked towards the door but it was closed. The room didn't have any windows and I knew that there wasn't any cameras in here. So why...? I pushed me from the sink and walked forth a little, looking around a bit. The feeling of someone looking at me was still strong. I don't know why, but I turned around so that I faced the mirror. When I looked, I got quite the shock.

Sure, it was still me looking back at me, holding the ice package against the neck. But instead of my, probably shocked, face I saw my reflection looking at me with very sad eyes before shaking it's head in a disapproving manor. As I took a step back, I tripped over my own feet and fell down. Luckily, I didn't hit my head or something like that.

'W-w-what was that?!'

My heart was beating rapidly, I was almost sure that Layton and Luke could hear my heart beating. I stood up on my shaking legs and looked into the mirror again. This time my reflection looked just like I did and followed my every move. I rubbed my eyes and looked into the mirror again. Nothing. My reflection was still there. I frowned before I shook my head.

'I must be hallucinating'

I walked out of the bathroom as I yawned. It was time to go to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

…

We had set out early in the morning. There was much to do and it would not be easy for them to find out everything. But I just needed them to get to the tower. That is all. If they found out any more, it could ruin things.

I had departed from Layton and Luke, telling them that I would look for a safe route in to China Town, but they didn't mind because they had to investigate some things on their own. Well, they have to do what they have to do. As long as they don't discover my secret.

I walked into my room and didn't waste a second to go to work. I had to get this done.

After half an hour, there was a knock on my door. I quickly hid the paper I had worked on and took forth another paper.

"Come in" I said as I looked over my shoulder towards the door.

"I got you some tea, boss" one of my thugs said as he walked into my room with some tea.

"Put it there" I said and motioned on a spot beside me on the desk. The thug put the tea there and then left my room. I sighed and poured up a cup of tea to myself and took a sip of the tea before putting the cup down beside me. It was strange really. I have come to enjoy tea after practicing being Future Luke. It had a calming effect on me so that's why I keep drinking it.

As I continued to work with the papers, I felt someone looking at me. I glanced towards the door and noticed that it was slightly open. I frowned as I got up and closed the door. As I sat down in my chair again, I felt the eyes on me again. I glanced around but did not notice anything. I glanced towards the mirror in my room but I saw no reflection in it. Of course, I shouldn't either because I wasn't in the right angle. I shrugged it off and took another sip of my tea. I needed to calm down.

During the whole time I worked, I felt that someone was watching me.

…

I met Layton and Luke outside China Town. I heard them talking about trying to return to their time to talk to Inspector Chelmy. I told them that it was possible for them to do that. After all, it couldn't hurt to let them right? I helped them back to the surface, to the real London. They thanked me for helping them to their time. Why did they thank me? It's just something they could have figured out.

Then I waited. Of course, I finished the work that was left but I did that fast enough. So I played my role as Future Luke and did things like he probably would have done if this was true. Just to make things more believable. And just to have a little fun.

Later, when they got back, we met up on a hill were I could see if they were pursued. While I saw they were not, I noticed that there were one more with them. Flora was with them. Well, Cogg had warned me about her and the others that had come with them this time. It doesn't matter. This might actually serve me later.

We discussed the matter around China Town and then we finally moved to go to China Town. After some trouble we got into China Town and could continue to investigate. We had to be careful because there were a lot of thugs here, which meant that we couldn't get to the tower today.

'I told Dimitri to hold back the thugs! What is he thinking?!'

I tried hard to not to frown. I didn't need my mask to break. I followed Layton and Luke around as they walked around in China Town, asking people about things and solving their puzzles. I had to do my share of puzzles too. Now I'm quite happy with my ability to solve puzzles because some of the puzzles took some time to solve.

"I think it's time for us to return to the hotel to find a way to get into the tower" Layton said with a low voice as we barely avoided being detected.

"I agree Professor. This is getting to dangerous to just walk aimlessly here" I agreed. We made a quick way back to the hotel without any of the thugs noticing.

"I thought that you had found a safe way in Big Luke!" Luke said as he glared at me.

"I did. But it appears that it became more thugs during the time I was away. It was not that much thugs when I first looked" I said calmly. Flora came out of the bathroom after changing her clothes and she took one of the beds.

"That is quite possible. Even though we didn't get to the tower, we got valuable information" Layton said with a nod.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed now! Goodnight!" Flora said as she laid down to sleep. Luke yawned as he changed his clothes to his pajamas.

"Um... There are only two beds and Flora took one of them. What should we do?" Luke asked when he realized the problem.

"I can sleep in the armchair. You two can share the last bed" I said to Layton and Luke.

"Are you sure Big Luke? I could sleep on the couch" Layton said but I shook my head.

"I'll do it. Goodnight to you" I said and walked to my sleeping place.

"But..." Luke began but I interrupted him.

"It will be fine. When we have stopped Layton, I will probably disappear" I said as I gave them a sad smile. It was fake of course, but I had to make it believable. Luke got big eyes at my words.

"What? That can't be true!" Luke exclaimed.

"I'm afraid that he speaks the truth Little Luke" Layton said in a low tone. Luke looked at Layton.

"It's because we are changing the future, my present. Because of that you are here might change some things in the past, your present, and those things might erase me from history" I said, remembering what Dimitri told me about these things. Luke just looked at me for some time, before he walked over to me and hugged me. I blinked a bit confused.

"But you will still exist! I mean, I'm still here! The things that made you like this might not happen but I'm here! And as long that I'm here, I'll grow up and be you!" Luke said. I blinked again at Luke's words.

"Ugh, I think I hurt my head with that" Luke mumbled into my shirt. Both I and Layton made a small laugh at that.

"But Little Luke is right. Luke will grow up to be Big Luke, only just a little bit different. Even though you will disappear, you will still exist Big Luke" Layton said and Luke just nodded. I think that he didn't really understood what Layton said. I nodded at Layton's words.

"Yeah... You are right" I said and hugged Luke back. Luke then let go of me and walked to the other bed.

"Goodnight" I said as I sat down in the chair to sleep.

"Are you sure? I can take your place" Layton said worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Goodnight" I said once again. I settled down to sleep.

"Goodnight" Layton said hesitantly before I heard him go to bed.

"Goodnight" Luke said before he also appeared to go to bed. Soon I started to drift into a deep slumber.

…

_I was in a dark place. I couldn't locate which way was which way, though I was standing on something that could be called floor. I looked around and I saw nothing, except from the darkness. The darkness was strange. It was dark but it wasn't _dark_. It was dark around me, black really, but it wasn't blinding. I could still see. It's hard to explain._

_As I stood there and looked around, I heard footsteps behind me. I quickly turned around and was ready to fight whatever that was behind me. I got a shock when I saw what, or rather _who_,was behind me._

_It was me._

_Or at least someone who looked like me. This person had also the same clothes as me, including the dark blue cap, but his face showed sorrow. Especially his eyes._

"_W-who... Who are you?!" I asked, getting over my shock. He smiled a sad smile._

"_You know very well who I am Clive" he spoke in a soft tone. I gulped as I tried to deny it._

"_I am you Clive. In a sense" he said when he saw that I tried to deny it._

"_'In a sense'? What do you mean with that? If you say it that way, it's clear that you are not me!" I said with a smirk. I wasn't going to back this one down. He looked at me for a while before he shook his head._

"_I'm your sanity Clive. You know that" he said and I could tell that he was right. But I wasn't going to admit it._

"_My sanity? Oh, where have you been?" I asked with sarcasm literally dripping off my voice. He seemed to ignore it._

"_You need to stop this madness Clive. You are going to hurt several people and you might cause people end up like you ended up after the explosion ten years ago! Please Clive" he pleaded. I could only laugh coldly at his pleading._

"_'Stop it'? If you are my sanity, where have you been all these years?" I asked coldly. He became silent._

"_Exactly. You have no right to tell me what to do! I will get my revenge!" I said as I smiled as a maniac._

"_... You locked me away" he said after a moment of silence. That startled me._

"_What?" I asked._

"_After that Constance died, you locked me away. The grief over losing the ones that you cared for two times made you lose your mind to the madness" he said and I could see how sad he was. Both over losing the ones he cared for and for me._

"_Don't mention her!" I growled and he shook his head._

"_Why should I? She was nice to me... To you. She kept you sane" he said and I clenched my hands._

"_Stop it" I said in my cold voice. This time he didn't say anything more._

"_We say that you are my sanity... Why did you decide to appear now and not earlier?" I asked after a long time of silence._

"_I said why. Earlier I was locked up, with no way to break out" he said with his sad smile._

"_Then why could you break free now, and not before?" I asked, now I was a bit curious. But only a little bit._

"_No one showed you kindness in the way you needed it after that Constance died. Not until now. Layton and Luke showed you kindness that helped me to break free from my prison" he said and smiled when he said their names. I snorted._

"_Of course they show kindness and concern! That is what gentlemen does!" I said with a dry laugh._

"_It's not only that! They do care about you Clive! Please, give up revenge! You will only hurt people if you destroy London! You might even _kill_ people if you continue!" he said, pleading again. I glared at him._

"_I will never give up my revenge. Never" I said and turned my back to him._

"_Don't do this Clive! You might never be able to turn back!" he said, slight panic in his voice. I laughed a dry laugh again._

"_As if I care. Don't ever come to me again" I said as I walked away._

"_CLIVE!" he yelled before the darkness around me disappeared._

…

I groaned when I woke up. My head throbbed in pain, as well as my neck.

"Good morning Big Luke" I heard Layton say. I looked up and saw Layton sitting on the couch on the opposite side of me with a teacup in his hand.

"Good morning" I said with a yawn. I sat upright in the armchair I had slept in as I massaged my neck.

"I have made some tea if you would like some" Layton said as he nodded towards some cups and a teapot on the coffee table.

"Thanks Professor" I said as I poured a cup of tea to myself.

"Slept well?" Layton asked as I took a sip out of my tea. I pondered on the question for a while.

"It was alright. Had a strange dream... But it seems like I can't quite remember it" I said after a while. Layton nodded as he took a sip of his tea.

"And you?" I asked and Layton nodded once again.

"Quite well actually, given the circumstances" Layton said and I was about to replay but got interrupted by a loud yawn from one of the beds. Layton and I looked towards the beds and saw that Luke had woken up.

"Good morning Luke" Layton said with a light chuckle.

"Morning Professah..." Luke mumbled and I couldn't help but to smile.

"Good morning Little Luke" I said and I could see how Luke tried to focus his eyes on me.

"Morning" Luke said with a yawn.

As everyone slowly woke up and ate breakfast, I got the feeling of peace. I liked this. I wouldn't mind these things every morning. Waking up to a greeting and to a family...

I mentally hit myself.

'What am I thinking about? There is no need to wish for such things! My plan will soon be in it's final stages where I can get my revenge!'

When everyone was done, we set out the plans for today. Today would be the day when we got to the tower. So we had to go to China Town again. I mentally sighed, this could have been done yesterday. But at least it would happen. Without too much trouble, we got into China Town.

As we walked down the streets of China Town, I stopped in front of one of the shop windows. I don't know why I did it, I just did. I looked into the window and just looked. I don't know if Layton, Luke and Flora noticed me stopping because I was so focused with looking into the window.

Then my reflection's face turned sad, but determined, and reached out for me, _out of_ the window. I gave off a startled scream as I scrambled backwards to avoid the hand that tried to grab me. I fell down to the ground as I stared with big eyes at the window.

"Big Luke?" I heard Layton's voice ask beside me. I blinked and looked to the side. There Layton, Luke and Flora was and all of them looked worriedly at me.

"Ah?" was all I got out of me. Very unintelligent.

"Are you alright?" Layton asked with more concern. I glanced at the window and saw nothing. Luke must have noticed this because he asked the next question.

"Is someone in that shop?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Ah, no. It was just..." I began but my mind went blank. What should I tell them? That my reflection tried to grab me?!

'No, definitely not that'

".. A spider that dropped down in front of me" I finished and Flora gave me a questioning look.

"A spider? But why would you scream at that?" she asked.

"I think you would too if you were looking at something and it just suddenly appears in front of your face" I said and I could see Luke nod. Good, he agreed with me.

"Alright" Flora said. Layton didn't say anything at that, just nodded.

"If everything is alright, I suggest that we move on. We attracted some attention with this" Layton said as he helped me up on my feet. I nodded.

"I couldn't agree more" I said and with that we was on the move again. As we made out way to the tower, I was sure to avoid anything that would give off reflections.

…

We went up in the tower and there Dimitri got busted. He escaped to the Thames and there Layton gathered everyone. He explained everything what had happened and who was behind it all. When he pointed at me and told that I was the mastermind, I denied. But then he said my name. Clive Dove. That was when I dropped the masquerade and briefly explained my plan on destroying London. And kidnapped Flora. I took her to my machine that would destroy London and started to do the last part of my plan. To erase London.

As I operated my machine, Layton tried to stop me. Of course he would, I could possibly kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people if I succeeded. And I don't know how he did it, but my machine started to self destruct.

"No, no, no!" I said as I realized what was happening. I got to one of the windows in the operating room.

"This isn't happening. This can't end this way!" I said as I felt the frustration inside me.

"It won't end this way!" I yelled. A crash above me made me look up. The last thing I saw was a pipe coming right at me and the last thing I felt was pain and flying through the air.

…

_I groaned as I felt pain throb through my body. I realized that I was laying on the floor._

"_Are you alright?" I heard my voice ask. I looked up and in front of me, I stood with a look of concern. It was then I realized that I was in that dark place from before._

"_Have been better" I groaned and he let out a sigh of relief. Both of us were silent for a long time. I was laying on the floor and he was standing in front of me._

"_I'm sorry" I mumbled at last. I didn't look at him._

"_It's alright. You were just a victim of the madness" he spoke in a soft tone._

"_Yeah sure. I embraced it with welcoming arms!" I spat. He didn't move._

"_Why did you appear anyway?!" I then spat as I glared at him._

"_Because you deserve kindness from others and because you need it. You won't be whole if I'm not with you" he said with a small smile. I was silent for a moment._

"_No. I don't deserve it. I almost killed several people. If it not had been for Layton..." I said and he walked closer to me. He crouched down in front of me. I looked up at him._

"_You do deserve it. I don't know if you know about it, but the red haired woman is here. To save you" he said with a kind smile. My eyes widened._

"_But the fortress will explode any minute!" I exclaimed, now worried about the woman._

"_Don't worry. Layton is coming to pick you up" he said and I relaxed a bit._

"_... He is saving me for the second time now, isn't he?" I asked and he chuckled._

"_Yes" he said._

"_And not by saving my life... This is the second time he is saving me from my own madness, isn't he?" I asked and he smiled bigger._

"_Yes. He sure is" he said before he stretched out his hand to me. I looked at the hand._

"_Let's go back Clive. As one" he said with that kind smile of his. I looked away._

"_I have done such horrible things..." I mumbled._

"_But that doesn't mean that you don't deserve forgiveness and kindness. You were eaten up by the madness" he said and I slowly looked back at him._

"_Don't let the madness win Clive. Let's go back together" he said as he still held out his hand to me with a smile. This time I smiled too._

"_Yeah. Let's go back" I said as I took his hand and whiteness enveloped us._

…

When I woke up, I was on the ground. The police was almost at me the moment I started to wake up, but Layton stopped them. I stood up and got a moment to talk to Layton. I explained everything for him, about why I did this and how I felt now about it. And I thanked him for saving me again. Saving me from my own madness. We talked for a while before the police had to arrest me.

"Don't worry about me. I intend to atone for my crimes" I told them just before the police took me away.

"Clive..." I heard Layton say behind me. I smiled.

'Thank you Professor'

Now I can finally throw away my mask of madness and put on the mask of sanity.

* * *

**This is officially my longest one-shot. Almost 5000 words. I never believed that I would have patience for something this long.**

**I got inspiration from _Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask_. I orignally had this idea for Randall, but after remembering a picture called "_062 - Breakdown_" by _NajikaSun_ on devaintART, I got an idea how to do it for Clive instead. So it ended up with this. Why do I keep coming back with great stories to Clive and no one else? No idea...**

**What do you think about it? Please review!**

**I hope that you enjoyed the story!**


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